In his current bestseller, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, Jordan B. Peterson, a clinical psychologist and University of Toronto professor of psychology, quotes Mark Twain in discussing the potential consequences of our conventional assumptions regarding nature and the environment. Mark Twain once said, “It’s not what we don’t know that gets us in trouble. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.” In our current period of environmental regulatory conflict and chaos, Dr. Peterson’s rules could be fruitful in thinking more critically about “what we know for sure” and in advancing the sort of discourse that can help us find our way to a more rational and orderly regulatory consensus.

Dr. Peterson presents informative, fascinating, and often humorous prescriptions on how we should approach the disorder and tumult in the world in order to achieve meaning in our lives. His provocative and controversial assertions are woven through essays on each of his twelve rules:

Stand up straight with our shoulders back.

Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping.

Make friends with people who want the best for you.

Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today.

Don’t let your children do anything that makes you dislike them.

Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world.

Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient).

Tell the truth—or, at least, don’t lie.

Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t.

Be precise in your speech.

Do not bother children when they are skateboarding.

Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street.

We could use a little of Rules 7, 8, and 9 as we grapple with the significant environmental regulatory controversies that we face. We have competing facts and assumptions to support our contentions. We are in our separate corners armed with our arguments and beliefs, with little room for honest debate, dissent, or compromise. Too often, we become the conscious or unconscious proxies of ideological tyranny. Orthodoxy, dominance, and power are more important than advancing our knowledge to further effective and appropriate public health and environmental regulations.

We need to do a little more listening combined with a humility that what we know for sure may not be so. The challenge is great. We must overcome the straightjacket of our ideology and follow Rules 7, 8, and 9—beginning with the assumption that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t.

American College of Environmental Lawyers, The ACOEL, is a professionalassociation of lawyers distinguished by experience and high standards in the practice of environmental law, ethics, and the development of environmental law.